


Lining Up the Pieces

by Larkawolfgirl



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Canon, Canon Era, Childhood Friends, F/M, Friendship/Love, M/M, Missing Scene, Multi, POV Alternating, Pre-Canon, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 09:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21455851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larkawolfgirl/pseuds/Larkawolfgirl
Summary: "I want to line the pieces up...yours and mine."My attempt to better round out the canon plot, or at least the relationship dynamics.
Relationships: Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Axel/Roxas/Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas/Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Lining Up the Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> Not fully sure where this is going, so I've set the rating to T. I am not really sure how romantic this is going to get since my original idea was to stay as close to canon as possible but round it out. But I'm going where the writing wants to go, so we will see. I've tagged just sorikai and akuroshi so far but expect more. I'm not sure how much I'll get into the wayfinder trio yet.
> 
> I stole (but tweaked) chapter 2 of my "Born in Darkness" fic. I figured I might as well since 1. I can, and 2. that fic isn't doing much good as it is.

Riku stared blankly at the ceiling. It wasn’t even dawn yet, but he couldn’t seem to fall back asleep. Not for the first time, he wished his parents would let him have a cellphone. Then he could text Sora and see if he was awake as well. With a groan, he turned onto his side facing his bedroom window. He blinked, then jumped up to gaze in amazement at the shooting light in the sky. It moved quickly downward in an arch. What was it? A shooting star? A meteor? Are they the same thing? He couldn’t remember. Right now, he didn’t really care. What he cared about was that this was an object falling toward the earth. This meant there was _ something _ beyond their island. There had to be!

* * *

“Sora!” Riku tapped at his friend’s bedroom window. He checked the window, and sure enough, it wasn’t any more locked than last time. “Sora!” he called again as he climbed into the room.

“Riku?” Sora asked groggily. “What time is it?”

“Four or something, I don’t know. But what I do know is that something fell from the sky.”

“Huh?” Sora was sitting up but staring dumbly at him. 

Riku frowned. “There was a meteor or whatever. It fell. We’ve gotta go find it.”

It took a second to click, but then Sora was grinning and searching his messy floor for a change of clothes. “I missed it? That sucks.”

Riku leaned against the window sill as Sora got dressed. “Yeah, it was pretty cool. But finding what fell is gonna be even cooler.” 

“Have any idea where it fell?”

“Uh. No, but come on, the Islands aren’t that big, right? We’ll find it in no time.”

Sora straightened his t-shirt. “Yeah.”

* * *

“Riku,” Sora complained, “can we rest for a second?” 

Riku looked toward the beach longingly then at his panting friend. “Yeah, sure.”

Sora gave him a thankful look and plopped full-body down in the sand. “Are you sure you didn’t dream the meteor?”

Riku scowled. “I’m sure.”

“Okay, but what if it fell in the ocean then? It’s just, we’ve looked everywhere.”

“We haven’t looked at the beach or the play island yet. Or in the caves. Or under the docks.”

“I guess, but how will we even know it when we see it?”

“I’ll know.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Same way I’m sure there’re other words. There’s this feeling buried within me telling me that I belong somewhere else, that there is somewhere else. I’ll have that same feeling when we see it.”

“Hmm.” Sora flopped onto his back and reached a hand out toward the sky. “Other worlds...I’ve never felt like that. It’s more like, I feel that I belong with people not to a place.” 

Riku could relate, at least to Sora alone. It wouldn’t be worth leaving, no matter how cool the place was, if it meant never seeing Sora again. “You’re just simple”

“Hey! That’s mean.” Sora jumped up and attempted to hit him but Riku was too fast and moved out of the way. 

“Gotta try harder than that if you want to beat me.”

Sora crossed his arms. “I bet you a donut I’ll beat you to the shore!”

Riku smirked. “You’re on!” 

They raced along the sand, both practiced enough not to slip. It was a close race, but Sora won by a hair when Riku skidded to a stop. 

Sora splashed him. “4 to 5.”

Riku ignored him, pointing a finger at a mass farther down shore. “That’s it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” There was a stirring in his chest even from this distance. It was like something waking in him, telling him to stop and pay attention. Taking a few deep breaths, he took off running to investigate.

When they got there, they found it was a young girl. Her short red hair was sprawled so that it obstructed any view of her face which was in the water. She wore a blue dress soaked through with ocean water.

While Riku stared in shock, the ever-helpful Sora quickly rolled her over and dragged her to dry sand.

“Riku, she’s not breathing! What do we do?” His childlike eyes grew watery.

This snapped Riku out of his daze. Pushing Sora out of the way, he pressed two fingers to her wrist. She had a pulse, but it was slow. Assured that she was still alive, he placed his hands one on top of the other over her abdomen and began to push.

Sora stood by watching in amazement until the young girl spat out an abundance of water. She blinked her eyes open which took them in with wonder.

“Who,” she coughed a few times, “who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Sora,” he said beaming his trademark, friendly smile.

“And I’m Riku,” he said smiling but for a different reason. While he could guess that Sora was happy at this opportunity to make a new friend, he was happy just knowing she was proof that there was more out there. “What about you? Where are you from?”

Sora let out a giggle, no doubt finding it funny that Riku was the one excitedly inquiring about their new acquaintance before he had the chance.

The girl ignored the laughter, instead scrunching her face up in concentration as if the question had been an advanced algebra equation instead of a simple introduction. “Kairi. I think my name is Kairi.”

“You think?” Riku asked confused.

“I can’t seem to remember anything else.”

Sora turned to him. “Do you think she has amnesia?”

She must. That was a wrench in his theory, but she still couldn’t be from here, he’d recognize her if she was. Their islands were small in population, a mere rounded 100 in number. But that wasn’t enough to go on to not at least try to help her. “Why don’t we see if we can find your family or someone who knows them, huh?” Riku extended his hand. The girl gladly took it, and he swiftly pulled her up to a standing position.

* * *

They searched house after house until the sun began to set on the horizon without any success just as he had anticipated. The boys sat upon a hill staring out at the sunset while Kairi stared wonderingly at a patch of blue ginger flowering at the foot of the hill.

“You really think that she’s-”

“From another world? Totally.” He smiled, falling into a lying position so that he could stare at the now darkening sky. Deep blues were circling pale oranges. “If not how did she get here? It’s not like she came in a boat.”

“But-“ Sora bit his lip. “That still doesn’t explain how she got here though. Wouldn’t she have had to come in something?”

“Magic.”

“Magic?” The brunet stared down at him.

“Magic,” Riku mumbled closing his eyes.

Giving up on his friend elaborating, Sora sat in silence until the sun disappeared and Kairi started to cry out at the darkness creeping in. “We should probably head home.”

“Yeah.” Riku got up stretching his semi-stiff limbs.

“Um,” Sora nudged his best friend’s shoulder, “what about her?”

“Oh…” Riku hadn’t thought about that. “I’ll, uh, take her to my house, I guess. At least for tonight.” At the look his friend gave him, he added, “Don’t worry about it. Sure my mom will understand. You can go ahead.”

“Bye, Kairi. I need to get home. Hope to see you again soon!” He called waving enthusiastically while walking backward.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” Riku chided, but when he did stumble causing Kairi to giggle, he let out a chuckle as well.

“We should go, too.”

“Go where?” she asked.

“To my place. You’re gonna be staying there for a while.”

* * *

Riku’s mother set down a tray of cookies from the oven when they walked in. “Why, who’s this?”

“Her name’s Kairi. Can she stay here for a few days?”

She wiped away the excess flour on her hands on her apron. “Stay here? Why?”

“Well, she kind of has amnesia.”

“Amnesia? What about her parents?”

“We couldn’t find anyone who knows her.”

She abandoned her bowl of leftover cookie dough to sit in the nearest chair. “Dear, I think you better get in here!”

A minute later Riku’s father joined them looking from one anxious face to the next, lingering on the one he didn’t recognize. “I see we have company.”

When it became apparent that the girl was not about to introduce herself, Riku stepped in. “Dad, this is Kairi. She needs to stay here for a few days.”

Unlike his mother, his father seemed more pleased with the idea. “Well, I don’t see why not.”

Riku blinked in surprise. “What? You are agreeing just like that?”

“Why? Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?”

“No, it’s just you haven’t even asked why.”

His father smiled cheerfully. “I know you wouldn’t ask without a reason. Now, why don’t you show her to the spare bedroom.”

As Riku obediently led her away, he could hear his mother’s muffled voice.

“Dear, we need to talk.”

When they entered the spare room Kairi sat on the bed and stared at him expectantly. He had planned on just heading to bed, but he was pretty curious.

“So, Kairi do you remember anything at all?”

She squished her eyes in contemplation again. “I remember the blue sky. It was calming and there was a breeze. Not a sea breeze like here that smells like fish, but one that’s airy with many different smells."

Riku sat cross-legged on the floor. “Anything else? Any people? Landmarks?”

“Uh.” There was a pause. “My Grandma, I think. She used to tell me stories. I think if I think about it hard enough I might remember her voice.”

“Okay! Then we’ll just have to keep trying, right?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. Then she gave a small smile. “Yeah.” 

* * *

Kairi liked playing dolls with Selphie. She watched Selphie play with the dolls more than she played with them herself, but as long as Selphie didn’t mind, neither did she. Selphie was the better storyteller, the more interesting one. When Selphie took over, the dolls all seemed to end up dating one another, fighting with each other, and sometimes even killing people. It was crazy and unrealistic, but that was what made it fun.

It was during one of these crazy catfights over who got to keep dating hunky boy number one that Selphie set the dolls down and gave Kairi a look. “Kairi,” she said, sounding way too serious, “who do you like?”

“Huh?”

“Ya know, Sora or Riku? I have a guess, but…”

“That’s silly! I like both of them!” Kairi grinned, but it fell when she noticed the way Selphie was looking at her. “Why?”

Selphie sighed. “Jeez, Kairi. I know you came from off the islands or whatever, but I’m not buying that you are stupid. Which of them do you _ like _ ? You have to like one of them. Just like how I like Wakka, but I _ like _Tidus.”

Kairi’s hands flew up to cover her mouth at that. “You _ like _Tidus?”

“See!” Selphie accused with a wag of her finger. “You do know. Now spill.”

“But…” Kairi fiddled with a doll with red hair like her own. Why did Selphie think she needed to pick? Why would she pick one of them over the other? That just seemed silly. “I like both of them,” she said again.

Selphie groaned and flopped back against the side of her bed. “You just don’t get it.”

Kairi stared at the dolls who had been fighting over hunky guy number one and wondered if maybe she didn’t.

* * *

“Kairi!” Sora called as they walked out of school. 

“Hi, Sora." She looked behind him. "Where’s Riku?” 

“He’s got a club today. Want to hang out? I want to show you something.”

She smiled. “Yeah, okay.”

* * *

“Wow!” Kairi exclaimed as she looked around the little cave. “This is so cool.”

“Isn’t it? It’s a secret, though, so don’t tell anyone. The only people who know about it are me, Riku, and you.”

Her heart beat a bit faster at that. The three of them were best friends, but she still sometimes caught herself feeling like a third wheel. “Thank you.”

“No problem. We’re friends, right?”

“Totally. Oh!” She put her backpack down and reached inside. “Do you want to draw something? To liven the place up?” She held out two pieces of chalk.

Sora nodded taking one. “But what?”

“Hmm.” They thought for a few minutes before Kairi exclaimed, “I know! You know the legend of the paupu, right? About entwining destinies? Well, how about we draw a promise to share one later so that we can always stay friends?”

“Sweet.” But then Sora frowned. “But what about Riku?”

Kairi giggled. “Don’t be silly. We’ll share with Riku, too, of course.”

Sora sighed in relief. “Okay. So, you draw you and I’ll draw me. Then Riku can draw himself.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

Riku was tired. He hadn't done well on his chemistry test. Not enough sleep, probably. He wasn’t ready to face his parents yet and wasn’t up to Sora’s perkiness right now, so he went to the one place he could feel the most at ease. He pushed aside the moss hiding his and Sora’s secret spot. The air was pleasantly cool and slightly damp. There was a blanket in the corner that he had left for times just like this. On his way over to it, white caught his eye. There was a large drawing that hadn’t been there before. Sora and Kairi were both smiling as they shared paupu fruit. 

He stumbled back, his foot catching on a rock. Normally, he would be able to catch himself but he was too shocked and let himself fall hard onto his behind. Not only had Sora broken his trust by showing Kairi their spot without his permission, but he’d also made a vow with her. Something in his stomach twisted. Hadn’t he known Sora longer? If anyone was going to stay in his life forever, shouldn’t it be him? And what about Kairi? Why had she picked Sora over him? He just didn’t understand. 

Feeling even more tired than he had when he entered the cave, he curled up under his blanket and tried in vain to fall asleep.

* * *

The next day, Sora greeted him as friendly as usual, but Riku just shrugged and walked at a quick pace to school. Sora remained a step behind. He tried to make conversation but when Riku continued to be unusually quiet he seemed to catch on. 

"Okay, well, have a good day, Riku," he said looking a bit sad. 

Tomorrow, Riku told himself. He would be friendly again tomorrow. One day of the cold shoulder was the least Sora deserved.

* * *

Sora kicked at the sand. “What are the girls doing all by themselves, anyway?”

Probably talking about which boy they find cute,” Wakka said, tossing a log into the pile and sitting down to complete their boys’ circle.

Tidus made a face. “You mean us?”

Wakka shrugged. “Or boy bands and stuff.”

“That’s lame,” Sora said.

“I don’t know,” Riku said, leaning back, “could be fun. I’d marry Utada Hikaru if I could.”

Sora’s mouth dropped open. “But you don’t even know her.” Riku may be his best friend, but that wasn’t enough to stop Sora from judging him. 

“So? She’s hot. And I like her music.”

“I thought I knew you.” Tidus was still making a face. “Girls have cooties.”

Wakka laughed.

“What do you think, Wakka?”

“Utada Hikaru’s hot, but I agree with Sora. I’d rather pick someone I know. I’d pick Cindy Chan from Fighting Fury.”

“But she’s not even real!” Sora whined. This conversation was stupid.

“Fine, Sora,” Riku said with an edge of annoyance. “Who do you like?”

“What?”

“Who do you like?”

“No one.”

“Don’t give me that. It’s Kairi, right?”

“I like her, but…”

“Oh! So you wouldn’t mind if I asked her out?”

Sora tackled him into the sand. “Why are you such a jerk?” He hated the thought of his two best friends leaving him behind. 

“What’s the big deal? Afraid of some competition?”

He was sick of this conversation. He didn’t want things to change between them. As he stormed away, he had a nagging thought that he had forgotten something important.

* * *

“Hey, Sora. Catch.” Before Sora had a chance to see what it was, something was flung toward him, and he fumbled to catch it before it fell to the ground. The something was a paupu fruit. Sora gave Riku, who was now leaning against the tree trunk beside him, a confused look. 

The other boy shrugged. “Thought you’d want to give it to Kairi, it being Valentine’s and everything.”

Was it Valentine’s Day? Sora was never good at remembering dates. “I was gonna give her a box of chocolate,” he lied. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie. He was _ going _to do that. He just forgot to buy the chocolate in time.

Riku laughed. “Everybody gives chocolate. This would be more meaningful, right? Maybe even earn you a kiss.”

Sora sputtered. “I don’t need to do that, though.”

“Oh,” Riku reached for the fruit, “then I guess you won’t mind if I give it to her.”

Reflexively, Sora’s grip tightened. 

Riku laughed again, then let go. “Hey, I’m just kidding. We’re friends, right? Friends don’t steal friend’s girls.”

When had Kairi become his girl? This whole conversation was throwing him off. He liked Kairi, sure, but it wasn’t like they were dating or anything. He didn’t even spend that much time alone with her, especially not as much as he did with Riku. 

So why was Riku jealous? He was jealous, right? That’s what this was, right? He’d known Riku for a long time, so he knew he wasn’t just playing wingman. 

“Right,” he agreed. He wasn’t about to steal Kairi away from him either.

* * *

Sora could feel his face heating when Kairi opened her front door. "Happy Valentines," he said.

"Oh." She covered her mouth with her hands looking happy but a bit shy herself. "Thank you."

"Ugh," he looked down at his empty hands. "I was going to give you some chocolate but I sort of forgot today was the day."

She giggled. "That's okay." She looked at him expectantly. 

"Well, uh, I just wanted to let you know. Unless you want to hang out or something."

"I'd like that."

* * *

They ended up on the play island as usual. The sun was beginning to set which was romantic. Kairi sat a little closer to Sora than usual and only gave him fleeting looks. When he'd come to the door she had thought he might ask her out. Well, he did ask her _out_ but this wasn't much different from what they usually did. She couldn't really tell if he was trying to be romantic or not. Either way, it was working. She kind of wanted to hug his arm. 

Her thoughts were cut off when he asked, "Has Riku been acting weird to you?"

Okay, so he probably didn't consider this a date. That was fine, she supposed. "Sometimes, yeah. It's like he'll be normal and then he remembers something and gets mad or distant or sometimes even sad. Not that Riku likes to ever show that he's sad. That's really stupid, ya know? What's with the whole "boys shouldn't be sad" thing?" She puffed out her cheeks.

Sora looked at her face and laughed. "I don't know. It's just a thing, I guess. Riku takes it to another level, though."

"Like I said, stupid."

"I wonder what's up with him, though. Whenever I try to ask, he just brushes it off or..." He cuts himself off and looks away.

Kairi tilted her head wondering what he was planning to say. "Same. Sometimes it feels like he's trying to push the two of us together so that we will stop bugging him about it."

"Y-yeah."

"I wish he wasn't so obsessed with leaving. Then maybe he'd spend enough time sorting through his emotions."

"Huh, I never thought about it that way."

"Don't worry, Sora. You're better. Don't ever change."

* * *

“Oh, look!” Kairi yelled, pointing at the sunset. 

“Come on, Riku! Let’s take a break.” Sora tugged Riku away from picking up fallen branches to join her at the fallen tree. 

“The raft’s never gonna be finished if you two keep lazing around,” Riku complained, but he sat down beside them.

“Aw, come on, Riku!” Sora whined. “Why’re you in such a rush to get off the island, anyway?”

“Nothing’s ever gonna change by staying here.”

Kairi tilted her head. “What’s so wrong with that?” She was pretty happy, all things considered.

Riku gave her a look. “It’s always the same here. Ever since you arrived, I’ve wondered why it is that we ended up here and not some other world. Our world’s just a little piece of something much greater, so we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right? And then there’s you, Kairi. Don’t you want to know where you came from? Your home’s gotta be out there somewhere. You can’t tell me you don’t want to see it.”

She folded her hands together in her lap. “Well...I do wanna see it, and of course, I wanna see all the other worlds that are out there with you two, but I like it here. This might not be where I’m from, but it’s my home.”

Sora gave a wide grin. “Yeah, this will always be our home no matter what. Right, Riku? Riku?” he asked again when no answer came.

“I guess. But who knows what’s waiting out there for us. Maybe we won’t want to come back.”

There was a moment of silence. Then Kairi hopped down from the tree and dusted off her skirt. “That’s fine with me. This is home because it’s where you are, ya know?” She turned to give them both a smile.

As excited as Sora was to get out there and have adventures, he loved everyone on the island and wasn’t ready to abandon them. Still, he guessed that was a problem he could worry about in the future. “Okay, but how far can a raft get us anyway?” He wasn’t smart like Riku, but he was pretty sure a raft wasn’t capable of crossing an ocean let alone making it to another world.

“If it doesn’t work, we’ll just figure something else out. We won’t get anywhere just sitting here.”

“Guess you’re right.”

“All we gotta do is believe,” Kairi said. “That’s what Grandma always said.”

“I thought you said you didn’t remember your time before?”

“That’s the funny thing. I don’t remember the place at all or my life really, but I do remember my grandma. It took a while, but It’s like, she’s still here,” she put a hand over her heart, “connected to me. I just had to find her again.”

“Oh.” Didn’t his mom always say his dad lived on in their hearts or something like that? Maybe people’s hearts were like star constellations. It didn’t matter how far apart you are once you’ve touched each other’s life. It was a nice thought. Kinda like the legend of the paupu fruit when he thought about it. 

“Who knows,” Riku said, stretching a hand out toward the horizon, “maybe you’ll meet her again.”

“Do you think?” Kairi’s voice was so hopeful.

“I do,” Sora said. “I think if her heart wants to meet your heart as much as yours does, then you’ve gotta find each other again.”

“Okay,” she said decidedly. “Let’s finish the raft tomorrow. No lazing around.”

She and Riku both turned to look at Sora. 

“Hey! Why’re you looking at me like that?”

“Cause you, Sora, are a lazy bum.”

“No, I’m not!”

They both broke out in giggles.

* * *

The wind howled outside, but that wasn't what woke Kairi. No, there was something wrong. Something dark and twisted was taking shape. She could feel it. It was dangerous. She needed to know that her boys were alright. 

Not bothering to quiet her steps, she rushed outside. Knowing them, the boys would be checking on the raft to make sure it was safe. Oh, boys. They would worry about that more than staying safe themselves. 

The further she went the more that feeling crawled over her skin. It was prickly and almost made her want to gag. She wanted to get back inside where it was safe and warm, but only once she had her boys there with her, so she pressed on through the darkness and rain. The shadows seemed to move with her, then she saw them: beady sets of eyes. They were coming toward her, ready to devour her.

"Kairi!"

It was Sora. Time froze. He rushed toward her and then there was nothing but warmth.


End file.
